Long-Runners

aka: Long Runner

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"If there was a magic DVD that contained all of Guiding Light, I could pop it into a DVD player, hit the Play button, get up from the TV, walk all the way from my hometown of Springfield, Missouri to Miami, Florida, take a three-day cruise to the Bahamas, come back to Miami, walk to Kennedy Space Center, get on a space shuttle, launch, fly to Mars, plant a flag on the surface, fly back to Earth, walk all the way back to Springfield, sleep for a solid week, go to the post office, apply for a passport, burn four weeks playing video games at my house, receive my passport in the mail, fly to Paris, live there for a hundred days, fly back to America, sleep for another solid week, then bike to Louisiana, spend a week with my in-laws to tell them about my trip to Mars, bike all the way back to Springfield, order pizza, sit down in front of the TV, and Guiding Light would still be on."

Barney Bunch: Started off as a trolling group on Newgrounds in 2005. Moved to YouTube in 2006 and became the semi-affliliated "Speakonia Community". Despite numerous videos and accounts getting terminated, it's still going.

Beachcombers (387 episodes from 1972-91; longest dramatic series in Canada)

Beat the Clock: Total of 18 years (1950-61, 1969-74, 1979-80, 2002-03).

Ben 10: Started in 2005 and currently has five main installments; the original (52 episodes, 4 seasons), Alien Force (46 episodes, 3 seasons), Ultimate Alien (52 episodes, 3 seasons), Omniverse (80 episodes, 8 seasons), and the 2016 reboot (160+ episodes and counting, 4+ seasons and counting). Currently, there are 390 ordered episodes and 22 seasonsnote 230 episodes and 18 seasons for the original continuity and 160 episodes and 4 seasons for the reboot continuity, making the franchise the most number of episodes and seasons on all Cartoon Network original series. Additionally, there are four movies, two crossover special, and 40 shorts. It is also the longest-running CN original series.

Catch-Phrase, a British game show that lasted sixteen years. (Not to be confused with the much less successful American version upon which it was based.)

Cheers (11 years, immediately followed by spinoff Frasier which went another 11. As a result, Kelsey Grammer played Frasier Crane from 1984-2004.)

Chilly Willy (produced by Walter Lantz) ran from 1953 to 1972. However, the studio only did an average of three cartoons per year with the character. As a result he only has 50 shorts despite being in production for 19 years.

Sanrio's Cinnamoroll, who would later become a very popular character in Japan, has been winning the hearts of Sanrio fans since 2002. Which is surprising since Sanrio itself didn't expect a character to come this close to being popular along with My Melody and Hello Kitty.

Claymore (The manga ran from 2001 to 2014 and ended with 155 chapters and 5 extra chapters, it also produced a 26-episode anime in 2007)

Comedy Central Presents (1998-2011, 14 seasons, over 260 episodes; a show that has about 30 minutes of Stand-Up Comedy by a different comedian each episode)

Dusty's Treehouse, a children's series in the same vein as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood starring future voice actor/director Stu Rosen and produced for Los Angeles CBS affiliate KNXT, ran in various forms from 1966-80. Syndicated re-runs aired on Nickelodeon from 1980-84.

Fist of the North Star (1983-1988, 245 chapters) and its prequel Fist of the Blue Sky (2001-2010, 260 chapters) lasted a combined total of 16 years as a manga. That's not counting the one-off 1996 novel Cursed City penned by writer Buronson and the 30th anniversary Last Piece one-shot published in 2013, not to mention the various spinoffs and parodies, as well as anime and video game adaptations that were published throughout the years, even when the manga was not in serialization anymore.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Original manga began in 2001 and finished in 2010, has had two anime series (the first ran from 2003-2004, the second from 2009-2010), 5 OVA's, and 2 movies, one for each respective anime series (the first was released in 2005, the second in 2011).

GoGo's Crazy Bones: This toy series started in 1996 and ran until 2005, when New Generation, the last classic set of Gogos, was released. That's a total of 9 years. The reboot series began in 2007, and the most recent reboot set was released in 2015. That's a total of 8 years. Put both runtimes together and you get 18 years (both runtimes plus the year 2006, which did not see a Gogos release).

Hunter × Hunter - Published in March of 1998 and still ongoing, though definitely not continuously; currently 33 volumes and over 350 chapters long. It's first anime adaption by Nippon Animation aired from late 1999 to early 2001, with a final OVA series continuing from 2003 to 2004. Its second anime adaption by Madhouse lasted from 2011 to 2014, ending accordingly due to reaching too close to the current point of the manga.

InuYasha (although the anime got axed when it was going to overtake the manga, the manga itself ran from 1996-2008; the anime came back and finished the story in 2009-2010. That's 14 years if you count the anime as part of its run as well)

Iron Chef (started in 1993; between Iron Chef Japan and Iron Chef America, that's nearly (but not quite) two decades in one form or another.)

Mythbusters (2003-Present); Hosted by Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage from 2003 to 2016 and then

relaunched in 2017 and is now hosted by Jon Lung and Brian Louden who won the gig after winning the spin-off competition show Mythbusters: The Search. Savage has since returned to the franchise in 2019 as host of the spin-off Mythbusters Jr which focuses on young children showing off their STEAM skills)

Naruto (first published in 1999 and aired in 2002. Now has 72 volumes, over 650 episodes, twelve OVAs, eleven movies, numerous games, twelve novels, two comedy spin-offs, and a miniseries. The manga officially ended on November 10, 2014, at 700 chapters, the final movie was released on August 7, 2015 and the anime reached its finale on March 2017. A a sequel manga began publishing on March 2016 and its anime adaptation started broadcasting one year later.

The first Pico flash, Pico's School, was made in 1999. Since then, Pico has been kept alive (in asense) as Newgrounds' Series Mascot by all sorts of Newgrounders to this day. And to think, Pico's School was inspired by Columbine.

Radio Dead Air, Nash Bozard's internet radio show, has been running weekly since July 2000. It makes his show the longest running entity connected with That Guy with the Glasses (even if the show was on for about 8 years before he even began making videos in 2009, let alone getting signed on to TGWTG in 2010.)

Rainbow Magic, a children's book series, began in 2003 and has seen multiple releases every year since.

The Red Green Show (1990-2005, 300 episodes and a movie. Could go for almost thirty years if you count the length of time Steve Smith has been playing the Red Green character, having first done it on Smith and Smith in the late 1970s.)

Tokyo Friend Park II (Japanese game show, aired nearly every week from April 1994 through March 2011, plus another year prior if you count the original Tokyo Friend Park which aired from October 1992 through September 1993)

True Capitalist (2008-present) Internet based political radio talk show about the ramblings of a short tempered, alcoholic Texan businessman and the trolls that try to ruin his show time and time again. Despite numerous dramas and doxing attempts surrounding his show, Ghost's adamant fanbase has frequently managed to motivate him back into broadcasting, even after he once left the internet for four years.

Winx Club (2004-14. It was originally supposed to stop after three seasons and a movie. Then, it was scheduled to stop after a third movie, which is to be released during summer of 2014. Now, a seventh season has been announced.)

The X-Men Film Series (2000-present) is the longest-running superhero movie franchise. Hugh Jackman appears as Wolverine in 9 of the 10 entries,note in the exception, Deadpool (2016), the title character still wears a Jackman mask making him the actor who has played the same superhero in the most movies.

Yu-Gi-Oh! got its start as a manga by Kazuki Takahashi in 1996. In addition to the original manga, the franchise has developed into five other manga series, seven anime series, one 30-minute animated movie, and two full-length animated movies. (The Collectible Card Game that most of the franchise was based on didn't actually debut until 1999; the anime series that most fans are familiar with was sponsored by Konami, revolving around their version of the card game to ensure their domination of the card game license.)

Ah! My Goddess; the manga ran from 1988 to 2014, and it's had several anime adaptations.

America's Funniest Home Videos (original pilot aired in November 1989, launched January 1990. From 1999-2000, it ran only as occasional specials, but the Tom Bergeron-hosted revamp returned it to series status)

America's Most Wanted (1987-1996, 1997-2012; longest-running show on FOX. It was actually canceled in Fall 1996 but fans, law enforcement, and the governments of 32 states rallied together to successfully persuade FOX to uncancel the show a month and a half later. Upon returning, it resumed its regular Saturday-night timeslot and paired with C.O.P.S.. This combination itself was a long runner as one of the longest unchanged primetime schedules in American television history lasting 15 years until it was sent to Lifetime in 2011. They would only air the program for a little under a year, ending in 2012.)

Arthur (1996-present), a cartoon based on the books by Marc Brown. It is the second longest-running animated series in America behind The Simpsons.

At the Movies (Siskel & Ebert): From 1986-99 with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, 1999-2000 with Ebert and guests, 2000-06 with Ebert and Richard Roeper, 2006-08 with Roeper and guests, 2008-09 with Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, and 2009-10 with A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, for a total of 24 years. Revived on PBS in 2011 as Roger Ebert Presents "At the Movies". If one counts their 1975-82 tenure on Opening Soon at a Theater Near You/Sneak Previews (which ran for another 14 years after they left for a total run of 21 years) and their 1982-86 stint on the original At the Movies, Siskel and Ebert were co-presenting film review programs for 24 years.

Bastard 1988: First volume published in 1988 (with a one-shot pilot in 1987 titled Wizard!!). It was serialized irregularly by Weekly Jump before switching to Ultra Jump in 2000 (with a seven-year hiatus between 2001 and 2008) and as a result, only a relatively small set of 26 volumes have been published.

Berserk: First volume published in 1990 (with a one-shot pilot in 1989), and has been serialized in Young Animal since 1992. However, it's only published bimonthly, so it only reached a comparatively-small 38 volumes in 2016. However, the 1997-98 anime was only 25 episodes and only lasted half a year; the fact that it went through 13 volumes of story in that time is telling as to why.

Saltimbanco opened in 1992, originally closed in February 1997, and was brought back in October 1998. As a tent-based tour it ran until 2006, and relaunched as an arena tour in 2007. In this form it ran until 2012.

Detective Conan, also known as Case Closed in English, in publication since 1994 and on the air since 1996 with 700+ episodes, 18 movies, and 70+ volumes. It's still going in both anime and manga form.

FurryMUCK (1990-today) May be the oldest text-based virtual reality game still around.

Futari Ecchi (1997-) holds the record for the longest running manga with near explicit sex being showcased in every single chapter, in every volume. Something that sounds so bland and lewd has a reason for having more than 70 volumes published - the series is basically an insightful encyclopedia for sex in manga form, no gratuitous sex scenes for the sake of it, everything being shown relates to detailed research on the author's part, something beyond than Plot with Porn, an actual bona-fide sex-ed curriculum in manga format.

Gunsmoke (September 10, 1955-March 31, 1975) Famously the longest running drama series in primetime television, a title it now officially shares with Law & Order.

Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten ("Good Times, Bad Times", German soap with 4,000+ episodes, running since 1992; based on a Dutch soap called Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, which has run for 3,500 episodes since 1990)

Hajime no Ippo (manga serialization started in 1989, has since topped 1,000 chapters and going strong)

Issues and Answers (1960-81) which, along with Meet The Press and Face the Nation, represented the height of Sunday-morning political television in the US.

The Jerry Springer Show (running in syndication since 1991, started as a public-affairs talk show based at WLWT in Cincinnati; its parent company syndicated it nationally as it slowly evolved into its current "freakshow" format. It switched distributors from Multimedia to Universal when Multimedia was bought out by a newspaper company in 1995, along with Sally Jessy Raphael's show)

Jeux Sans Frontières (Games Without Borders) originally ran from 1965-82, and was revived from 1988-99 for a total run of thirty tournaments in 28 years. Some of the national qualifiers likewise ran for over twenty series, including France's Intervilles (a total of 27 series intermittently between 1962 and 2015) and Britain's It's a Knockout (original run 1966-82 on The BBC, with intermittent celebrity specials from 1983-88, and two revivals, one from 1991-94 on S4C {Wales only} and one from 1999-2001 on Channel 5).

Kalkofes Mattscheibe, one of Germany's most prominent and most merciless parody shows, was on radio from 1991-1998, and has been on TV since 1994 (with breaks and Channel Hops). Oliver Kalkofe commented in 2014 that German TV had only become worse in the meantime.

Law & Order: September 13, 1990 - May 24, 2010. Fell just short of beating Gunsmoke's record, though at least they're now tied. Was the longest-running first-run drama series in primetime for all of the Turn of the Millennium.

Poirot (first episode shown in 1989, an occasional break in the 1990s and 2000s and a final episode in 2013)

Pokémon (since 1996, 28/29 gamesnote many released in pairs or as Updated Rereleases for the main line of games alone. The anime has 1000+ episodes, and 21 moviesnote one per year for the anime since 1997.)

The Polka Dot Door (Canadian children's show, 1971-93)

Power Rangers (began in 1993 with only a one-year hiatus, over 800 episodes so far)

Shortland Street is Television New Zealand's longest-running soap opera, first aired on May 25, 1992 and still going strong.

The Simpsons has been on the air as a series since December 17, 1989 note with the first episode being the Christmas special, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." The first regular episode is "Bart the Genius," though had it not been for the sloppy animation and behind-the-scenes issues Matt Groening was having with creating the show, "Some Enchanted Evening" — where Homer and Marge leave the kids with a female fugitive who poses as a babysitter — would have been the series premiere, though the title characters originated in animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show back in 1987. As of 2017 it is airing its 29th season and has been renewed through 30.

Slayers: Began in 1989 in a serialized magazine as a novel series; had an anime run (1995-97); had two OVAs and five movies (1995-2001); anime was Un-Cancelled in 2008 and released two more seasons. The bulk of the long run was through the novels, which kept running through the new millennium and are still being made.

SpongeBob SquarePants (May 1, 1999 - present): Widely considered to be the most popular cartoon of the Turn of the Millennium and rightfully took its place as one of the most successful cartoons of all time. Despite this, Stephen Hillenburg intended the movie to be the series finale. However, Nickelodeon didn't want to let go of their biggest money maker and continued to renewed the show for more episodes after the creator's departure. Hillenburg would briefly return years later before dying of ALS, with the show still chugging along afterward.

STOMP! starring the Yes/No group has been at the Orpheum Theater in New York City since the mid-90's - and it's still there.

The original Tom and Jerry series ran from 1940-1967. If one counts the various spin-offs and movies that are still being produced to this day, then it's been going for more than 70 years.

The Powerpuff Girls: Currently has three installments: the original (1998-2005, 78 episodes and 6 seasons), Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z (2006-2007, 52 episodes and 1 season), and the 2016 reboot (2016-present, 105 episodes and 3 seasons). Overall, there are currently 235 episodes and 10 seasons. It has also 10 shorts, 4 specials, and 2 movies. Although the shows aired on US television for 12 years (14 if one counts The Powerpuff Girls Z which was aired outside the United States), the franchise is actually 20 years old since it was introduced on November 18, 1998.

Tournament of Kings, a Las Vegas dinner theater rival to the Medieval Times chain, opened with the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in 1990 as King Arthur's Tournament; it was retooled and renamed in 1998 and continues to run today.

Truth or Consequences (1950-51, 1954-75, 1977-78, 1987-88; total of 24 seasons, although it is best known for the 19 years {1956-75} hosted by Bob Barker)

Un, dos, tres, weekly Spanish game show that aired ten seasons intermittently between 1972 and 2004. Not counting skips between seasons, it stayed on air for about 20 years.

VeggieTales (1993-present, took a brief four-year hiatus beginning in 2015 due to Dreamworks Animation purchasing the series, and was continued in 2019 as The VeggieTales Show)

Waratte Iitomo!, a live-broadcast Japanese variety show, has been on the air since October, 1982. There has only been one host throughout its entire run, who holds a Guinness world record for longest continued hosting of a live television program.

WCW Saturday Night managed 29 years (23 of them nationally televised), with a couple of name changes along the way.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? started out on BBC Radio 4 in 1988, then moved onto Channel 4 the same year, where it lasted for 10 seasons; the show moved to Hollywood in 1998, when it got picked up by ABC. The show was cancelled in 2003  and by cancelled, we mean it stopped filming new episodes; new episodes continued to air on ABC Family until November 2006. Several years later, the series was uncanceled and made a Channel Hop to The CW, where new episodes began airing in 2013. This makes for over 20 years' worth of Whose Line (and counting).

Care Bears: Since its launch in 1981, is over thirty years old if one doesn't count in the hiatuses the franchise took. Even if one did count in the hiatus, the one hiatus starting in 1993 through 2001 and another from 2008 through 2012 totaled 12 years, still leaving the franchise's "active" periods with a span of a little over 20 years.

Car Talk began on WBUR Boston in 1977, and was picked up nationally by NPR in 1987. New episodes stopped being produced in 2012 and the older of the two brothers who co-hosted the show, Tom Magliozzi, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in 2014, but Tom and his brother Ray still had recorded enough material for them to continue broadcasting new shows of never-before-aired material for at least a few more years. In late 2017 NPR announced, through a recording made by Ray, that they would officially cease its syndication to make way for new programming.

Casualty (30 years, first broadcast 1986) Its spinoff Holby City has already had a 10+ year run in its own right (since 1999).

Countdown (Britain; the first programme on Channel 4, started in 1982, with 5,000+ episodes)

The first Dark Tower book was released in 1982. An Interquel taking place between books four and five was released in 2012.

Discworld; first released in 1983, it went on to span 41 books before the author's death in 2015, as well as numerous short stories, reference books, stage shows, tv adaptations and various different types of games. Even after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Sir Terry Pratchett managed to release a new book almost every year.

Doctor Who ran from 1963 to 1989, and again from 2005 to present, for a total of 37 years. It is listed in Guinness World Records as both the longest-running, non-consecutive, science fiction television series (when awarded in 2006, the show had 43 years under its belt since the first episode/serial, and a total of 723 episodes), as well as the most successful science fiction series. When it was put on hiatus in 1989, it was announced as a temporary measure. During the hiatus, the BBC produced a telemovie, novelizations of the old episodes, and books with new stories, as well as an ongoing comic strip and licensed a company to produce audio dramas, so it was no big stretch that the BBC celebrated the franchise's 50th anniversary in 2013. Also a counter-example to the claim in the introduction that these shows avoided being Screwed by the Network as the hiatus was instigated by an executive who hated the show.

Doraemon started off as a manga that ran from 1969-1996. There's the first anime series that aired in 1973 then ended in the same year due to budget issue that eventually caused the animation studio to went bankrupt. There'a second and more popular anime series that lasted from 1979 to 2005. Just a month later, a third anime series started airing in 2005 with all the characters redesigned and all the voice actors were replaced.

Legends in Concert, a celebrity impersonator revue, has been performing somewhere in Las Vegas, NV since 1983. Sister productions in Atlantic City, NJ, Branson, MO, and Myrtle Beach, SC have all had decade-plus runs; the latter two are still performing.

Live from Lincoln Center (PBS classical music program, airing since 1976)

The talk show now known as Live with Kelly and Ryan has a continuous history dating back to at least 1983:

The Morning Show (19831988), initially a local show on WABC-TV in New York City, hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey. That show is the successor to local talk shows in both New York and Los Angeles that date back to 1970 (in NYC) and 1971 (in L.A.), with the L.A. show hosted by Philbin and Garvey for several years. Garvey left in 1984, and after a year with Ann Abernathy in the co-host chair, Kathie Lee Gifford (then Johnson) debuted in 1985. The show went national in 1988 as...

Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee (19882000). After Gifford left in 2000, then there was...

Live! with Regis (20002001), when the producers tried out several prospective co-hosts. The hiring of Kelly Ripa brought us to...

Live! with Regis and Kelly (20012011). Philbin left in early 2011, leading to...

Live! with Kelly (20112012), with Ripa joined by a revolving cast of guest co-hosts. Eventually, producers settled on former NFL player Michael Strahan, creating...

Live with Kelly and Michael (20122016).note The exclamation point was officially removed at this time. Strahan left in the spring of 2016 to become co-host of ABC's Good Morning America, leading to the return of...

The original theatrical Looney Tunes series ran from 1930-69. In that period of time, it went through various directors, animators, producers, and characters and that's not counting the various spinoffs, revivals, and movies.

Lou Dobbs Tonight, originally titled Moneyline (aired on CNN from 1980-2009, and on Fox Business Network since 2011)

Max and Ruby (Although the series is also mentioned in the "At least 10 years" section, Rosemary Wells has been making books starring "Max And Ruby" since 1979)

The Original Amateur Hour, originally titled Major Bowes Amateur Hour (variety/talent show aired on radio from 1934-45 and again from 1948-52, as well as on television from 1948-70, changing networks several times across both media)

Parkinson (British chat show hosted by Michael Parkinson, aired on The BBC from 1971-82 and then again in 1987-88 and 1998-2004, then on ITV from 2004-07)

A Prairie Home Companion (radio variety show, running from 19742016 with two very similar shows running during the breaks from 1987-89 and 1989-92. Garrison Keillor hosted this show, but not the very similar ones that ran during its breaks. The successor show, which still airs, is Live from Here.)

Question Time (British current affairs debate program, running since 1979)

Quirks and Quarks (general-interest science program on CBC Radio since 1975)

Royal Canadian Air Farce (since 1973 on radio, since 1993 on TV; ended with a New Year's Eve special on December 31, 2008)

SportsCenter (will celebrate its 40th anniversary on September 7, 2019; runs for at least two hours every day {the latter of which is repeated throughout the following morning}, and quite a bit more since August 2008. ESPN celebrated the show's 50,000th episode back in 2012; each episode usually runs 60 or 90 minutes.)

Super Mario Bros., whose first game was released in 1985 (1981, if one counts previousgames where Mario has also been a protagonist), still has games in development every year. Since then, Mario has starred in over 200 games.

Sylvanian Families: Debuted in stores in 1985, and despite some controversies (ie disappearance from US shelves for a short stint followed by a name change in the US circa 1993, and another disappearance for a short stint, this time in the UK, in 2009) and numerous revamps, is still going strong. That's 34 years of Sylvanian Families as of 2019.

Wonderama (1955-1986), a weekly children's show that ran on New York's WNEW and other stations owned by the Metromedia syndicate.

The Woodwright's Shop (1979-), an American woodworking show on PBS produced through University of North Carolina Public Television.

Woody Woodpecker made his first appearance in 1940 (although he wouldn't get his own series until the next year) and his theatrical cartoons lasted all the way up to 1972 (and are still being re-run on television in some parts of South America). He also had a brief revival in the late 1990s.

The 700 Club: Religious program airing since 1966 on local Portsmouth, Virgina station WYAH (now WGNT), in national syndication since 1974, and on CBN since 1977; well-known as one of two CBN / Family Channel shows remaining on FOX Family / ABC Family / Freeform (it, Living the Life, and the annual day-long CBN telethon were all stipulations when Pat Robertson sold the network in 1998). Has been hosted by Robertson since its inception.

Adventures in Good Music, a daily classical music program that debuted on Detroit station WJR in 1959, was picked up for national syndication in 1970 and ran until 2007.

All Things Considered (news magazine program airing on NPR since 1971, airing its first installment just months after NPR itself began broadcasting.)

Anpanman. Made for a magazine in 1969, went to picture books from 1973 until 2013, then became big on the anime Soreike! Anpanman (1988-present), plus being the leader in the largest number of characters in any animated program.

Datamation is the world's oldest and longest running computer magazine, having launched in 1957 and ran in print until 1998, and continues to this day as a website. While it won't make the Print Long-Runners list, it's still impressive considering commercially-available computers had only become available in 1951 and were still in their infancy.

En Familia con Chabelo (In Family With Chabelo) is a Mexican game/variety show starring Xavier Lopez "Chabelo" that ran almost every Sunday since 1968. After 47 years, the show ended its run on December 20, 2015.

Gundam (16 TV and OAV series', 11+ movies, more manga and video games {separate and original stories, not just adaptations} than we dare to count, and good Lord, the model kits! If one were to watch every Gundam animated work continuously, not counting eating, sleeping, or bathroom breaks, the total runtime would last more than one week.)

Hearts of Space (weekly New Age music program on public radio, has aired on Berkeley station KPFA since 1973 and in national syndication since 1983)

The House (CBC Radio parliamentary affairs show, year-round since October 1977)

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue has been running on BBC Radio 4 since April 1972. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden have been regular panelists since the very beginning (except for occasional breaks due to medical problems or other commitments), and Barry Cryer has been a regular panelist since the second series after alternating with Humphrey Lyttelton in the moderator's chair for the first series. Lyttelton remained the 'chairman' up until his death in 2008.

Inside The NFL (1977-2008 on HBO, Showtime 2008-)

Jeopardy! (12 years with Art Fleming {1964-75 and 1978-79}, since 1984 in syndication with Alex Trebek)

The character Kiki & Lala from Sanrio's Little Twin Stars has been around since 1974.

Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kôen Mae Hashutsujo (called Kochikame for short, and for good reason): Was the longest continuously-running manga series in terms of number of volumes, though Golgo 13 beats it in years. Started in 1976, it accumulated a total of 1960 chapters in 200 tankobon volumes (plus a few uncollected one-shots and crossovers), before ending its run on its 40th anniversary in 2016. The anime adaptation, which aired from 1996 to 2004, lasted 373 episodes plus 2 theatrical movies and 10 TV specials (including a 40th anniversary special aired in 2016).

Mastermind (British quiz show airing since September 1972; from 1972-97 on BBC1 with Magnús Magnússon, 1998-2000 on BBC Radio 4 with Peter Snow, 2001-02 on Discovery with Clive Anderson, and 2003-present on BBC2 with John Humphrys)

Masterpiece Theatre (has aired on PBS since 1971, although it's just called Masterpiece now; its sister program, Mystery! {now known as Masterpiece Mystery}, has aired since 1980)

Mazinger Z: Manga came around in 1972. An anime show and a second, manga series parallel to the original one were made in that same year, two sequels and several movies in that same decade, a related anime show (God Mazinger) in the eighties, an OVA series and movie in 2001 and a reboot in 2009. And then you have to count several alternate manga versions and one-shots produced throughout four decades. And this year the creatorhas stated he intends to make more Mazinger manga and anime.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association's telethon, from 1966 to 2014, after which it was cancelled due to at least three major factors: 1) lack of viewership due to Jerry Lewis' departure, 2) the numerous format changes and scheduling issues that followed, and 3) the MDA's shift to digital media to find a cure for muscular dystrophy.

The Price Is Right (1956-65, then since 1972; originally hosted by Bill Cullen {1956-65}, then Bob Barker {1972-2007}, then Drew Carey {2007-})

A Question of Sport kicked off in 1968, making it the oldest Panel Game in existence and arguably the longest continually running Game Show (while The Price Is Right has run for five more years overall and started twelve years earlier, it also spent seven years off the air). It has only had four regular presenters (Stuart Hall (1968-69), David Vine (1970-78), David Coleman (1979-97), and Sue Barker (1997-present)).

Quote Unquote, that innocuous literary quiz that appears at lunchtimes, has been on BBC Radio 4 with the same host (Nigel Rees) since 1976.

Sazae-san (began in 1969, and is the longest-running animated series ever)

Scooby-Doo (1969-present) Multiple series; at least one series was in first-run almost every year from 1969-91 and since 2002, plus one or more direct-to-video movies each year since 1998 and several live-action films. Something of an unusual example, due to the comparatively short nature of each incarnation. So far, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated holds the record at 52 episodes in two seasons. Despite a relatively modest episode count by the standards of most long-runners, they collectively make up a mythology of nearly 400 episodes.

The original Sherlock Holmes canon consists of 60 stories over the course of 1887-1930.

Shoten (Broadcast weekly on NTV since 1966; Japan's second longest-running show, with 2,400+ episodes to date; has used the same Opening Theme since 1969)

Super Sentai (1975-77, 1979-current note {Himitsu Sentai Goranger and J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai were not originally considered part of the franchise and were only retroactively recognized years later.}) Whether it counts depends on the definition of a "show", since the series are generally independent stories with a different team of superheroes (or "rangers") in color-coded uniforms who ride giant transforming and combining robots. It does, however, have a series of crossover films between different teams (the Super Sentai Versus Series) and the 35th series, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, was a year-long crossover involving all the previous teams. If you count it, it's the longest running sci-fi program in the world just by number of years on-air, and the fact that it airs an episode a week with no Summer break (more than 2000 episodes and counting) means it vastly exceeds most rivals' lengths in total airtime, including Doctor Who.

Tatort (also known as Scene of the Crime in the USA) is a German-language detective series which began airing in November 1970 on Das Erste in West Germany, in 1972 on ORF 2 in Austria, and from 1990-2001 and again starting in 2011 on SF1 (now SRF 1) in Switzerland, making it the oldest currently airing crime show in the world. Its East German counterpart Polizeiruf 110 has aired over 350 episodes since June 1971, on Fernsehen der DDR until 1990 and on Das Erste following the re-unification; both shows share a timeslot in The Berlin Republic. To celebrate the re-unification, Tatort and Polizeiruf 110 co-produced the crossover episode "Unter Brüdern" ("Among Brothers"), which aired on 28 October 1990.

Tony Brown's Journal (PBS African-American public affairs program): debuted in 1968 as Black Journal; has aired under its current title since 1978.

Top of the Pops (UK chart music TV show): started in 1964; weekly show stopped in 2006, but lives on in special editions.

Letter from America ran on BBC Radio from 1946-2004, ending when Alastair Cooke retired less than a month before his death.

Come Dancing, the BBC televised ballroom dancing competition, originally ran from 1949-95, with intermittent specials in 1996 and 1998. Its revival with celebrity contestants as Strictly Come Dancing has aired since 2004, spawning the worldwide Dancing with the Stars phenomenon.

The Sooty Show ran roughly from 1952-2004 under slightly different title changes and presenters. A new series was broadcast in 2011 with a new presenter and premise but the same core characters with another due in 2013.

Supergirl: Superman's Distaff Counterpart was created in May 1959, and has been an important part of The DCU since then, being featured in solo books and anthologies, and showing up in movies, TV shows, and cartoons.

Okaasan to Issho, a Japanese children's show, premiered in October 1959 and has been running since.

Portuguese daily news show Telejornal was first broadcast in October 1959; its name is synonymous with "TV news" in Portugal.

Radio Rochela was a Venezuelan late-night television sketch comedy and variety show, aired 1959-2010.

Assignment: The World, a social studies instructional show presented as a News Broadcast, was produced by Rochester (N.Y.) Area Educational Television Association (1959-1966) and its successsor WXXI Rochester (1966-2013) and a favorite of PBS stations in the Northeast.

The Fantasticks ran off-Broadway from 1960-2002, and was revived in 2006 to run until 2017. The revival run had the number of New York performances posted in the lobby, over 21,500 as of May 2017.

The Nature of Things (science documentary series on CBC since November 1960; hosted continuously by zoologist and environmentalist David Suzuki since 1979)

Coronation Street (~9,500 episodes since December 1960). Even more impressive is that every single episode has survived to this day  almost unheard of for a show that's been around this long.

Most of the Marvel Universe core characters are at least 50 years old, such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Daredevil, The Avengers, the X-Men and many others, debuting between 1961 and 1965.

The Renzoku Terebi Shousetsu (literally "serial TV novel"), colloquially known as "Asadora" ("Morning Drama", due to its timeslot) is a Soap Opera series that airs in the mornings on NHK in Japan, Monday through Saturday, with each season featuring a new story. First airing in 1961, "Asadora" seasons used to run annually, but starting in 1975 with Mizuiro no toki, the series switched to a six-month format. This has resulted in ninety-six distinct seasons and stories, with no sign of slowing down as "Asadora" remains one of the biggest ratings draws on Japanese TV. Some of these seasons are extremely famous in Japan - Oshin, the most successful, drew TV ratings of sixty-three percent during its run - and you can expect other Japanese media to make reference to them from time to time.

Four Corners (Australian current affairs show, running since August 1961)

Songs Of Praise is the BBC's Christian music programme. It began in October 1961 and still running to this day, having produced 2,300 episodes at the last count in 2012.

It's Academic (Washington, D.C. televised academic game show): debuted October 7, 1961 and has been going ever since; listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running quiz show in television history, and almost certainly the longest-running game show ever.

The show's creator, Sophie Altman, remained as executive producer until her death on May 24, 2008, shortly after production wrapped on Season 47.

Mac McGarry hosted for the first 50 years, through June 25, 2011. When Season 51 began, Hillary Howard filled in for an ill McGarry but became permanent after he announced his retirement in November, although he appeared one last time to officially hand off the show to her.

Sabado Gigante started in June 1962 (as Gran Show Dominical before moving from Sunday to Saturday in 1966), Channel Hopped from Chile's Canal 13 to Univision in 1986, and from there, ran all the way up until April 17, 2015. "Don Francisco" (Mario Kreutzberger) hosted the show for its entire run.

Ireland's The Late Late Show (since July 1962, has only had three regular presenters (Gay Byrne (1962-99), Pat Kenny (1999-2009), Ryan Tubridy (since 2009)). Not to be confused with the American The Late Late Show, which has "only" been running since 1995.)

The James Bond film series began with Dr. No in 1962; the twenty-third film, Skyfall, was released to mark the series' fiftieth anniversary in 2012.

German broadcaster ZDF's flagship news programme heute began airing on the channel's launch date, 1 April 1963. It has occupied its current 19:00 timeslot since 1973.

Clifford the Big Red Dog (1963-present, a series of children's books, also had a brief run on TV during the early 2000s and a new movie is scheduled for 2016)

The BBC pop-science programme Horizon has been running since May 1964.

Match of the Day (UK football highlights and discussion show): started in August 1964, survived in various forms even during periods when highlights rights have gone to other channels, and now has a Spin-Off series (Match of the Day 2, on air since the 2004-05 season) and magazine.

Ninja Hattori. The original manga series started in 1964, and the series became popular enough to become a franchise that continues to this day.

Since 1965, Gamera has starred in 12 films with a new one currently in the works.

Vecernicek is a Czech bedtime story program that has been running every evening since 1965, even with the opening unchanged for all these years.

Days of Our Lives has been running since 1965. Also has recordings of all of its episodes; since Days runs for an hour as opposed to Coronation Street, almost all of whose episodes run for 20 or 30 minutes, Days arguably has the largest archive of any dramatic TV series in terms of airtime. (SportsCenter almost certainly has a larger archive these days.)

Ideas (anthology series on CBC Radio since 1965)

The Ultra Series, a popular Japanese Tokusatsu franchise that began in January 1966. So far, 30+ shows (totally over 1,200 episodes), 30+ movies, a number of specials, and numerous manga and video games. Also Guinness World Record holder for most spinoffs.

Country Calendar is a New Zealand farming documentary series that has been running continuously since March 1966. Not only is it New Zealand's longest-running television series, it is only five years younger than New Zealand television itself.

Star Trek celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016. Since its debut in September 1966 it's never gone more than 4-5 years without a show on the air or a movie in the works. Spinoffs (and one prequel) aired nonstop from 1987 through 2005, a new prequel launched in 2017 (with more series announced in 2018), and feature films have been regularly released since 1979 (except for a gap between 2002 and 2009).

The World at Six (flagship dinner-hour newscast on CBC Radio One since October 1966)

Lupin III: The original weekly manga stories were published in Weekly Manga Action, starting in August of 1967; these were later collected into volumes. Later manga series were published directly to volume form. The first anime for Lupin was a pilot film, created in 1969. The first full TV serial began in 1971; three other series plus a spin-off series have since been released, the most recent in 2015. There have also been eight theatrical releases, including one live action film, one spin-off film, and one crossover movienote With Detective Conan, for those wondering, and three OVA originally released to video/DVD. Since 1989, TMS Entertainment has also produced a yearly TV movie, only missing one year (2014) for a grand total of twenty-six. Whew.

Bound for Glory is a live folk music radio broadcast that has been presenting 33 concerts a year since September 1967.

All Night Nippon is a radio show that has been broadcast on Japan's Nippon Broadcasting System since October 1, 1967, and is probably most famous for giving out a Famicom Disk System version of Super Mario Bros.—wherein some sprites were replaced by imagery associated with the show's hosts and with NBS and its parent company—as a contest prize in 1986.

Just a Minute has been running since December 1967 on BBC Radio 4, where it now rotates seasons with I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (see corresponding entry). Still presented by the original chairman, Nicholas Parsons, although the original regular panelists have all passed away (Kenneth Williams in 1988, Derek Nimmo in 1999, Peter Jones in 2000, and Clement Freud in 2009). The Swedish version of the programme, På Minuten, has aired since 1969 (with a hiatus from 1988-94).

Gardeners' World has been broadcast on BBC television since 1968.

The Hot Wheels toy franchise started in May 1968 with the release of its first 16 toy cars (known as the "Sweet 16") and has been running since.

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While there wasn't a single member of the National Wrestling Alliance that had been around since 1980 by 1993, the governing body itself did not let this setback stop it from continuing on as it had since 1948, making due with granting "territories" or "rights" to use the NWA name to newer promotions. Its title belts also continued to be used by many of its former members who still respected its authority, if to a much lesser extent.

Noddy: Originally started as a series of books by Enid Blyton published from 1949-63, and spawned 2 puppet shows, a stop-motion series, 3 CGI-animated adaptations, and a children's sitcom based on the character. Apart from a gap from 1982-92, Noddy has been a fixture of British television continuously since 1955.

Giro 413 has aired weekly on Danmarks Radio (DR) since January 8, 1950. This is a family program to which people donate money collected at celebrations such as wedding anniversaries and 50th birthdays. Listeners also request songs. DR in turn donates the money collected to a variety of charities.

American broadcaster Vin Scully announced his first Dodgers baseball game on April 18, 1950, and moved with the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. He made his final broadcast on October 2, 2016. His 67-season tenure is the longest any broadcaster has spent with a single team in professional sports and broadcasting history (and not just in America, but the entire world!).

Unshackled, a ChristianRadio Drama produced by Chicago rescue mission Pacific Garden Mission, has been continuously produced since 1950 and is (along with the CBS World News Roundup) one of the lone remaining shows still airing on radio from the Golden Age Of Radio.

The news programme Tagesschau was first aired on NWDR in Germany on Boxing Day 1952 and went to being broadcast seven days a week in 1961. The programme now serves as ARD's flagship news brand and still occupies the same 20:00 time slot as it did in 1952.

Current affairs show Panorama has been airing on the BBC since November 1953 and is presently the longest-running programme in the history of British television. Across the Channel, the German version of the programme, produced by NDR and also called Panorama, has aired on ARD since June 1961.

Brain of Britain, Britain's longest-running quiz programme in any medium, began as a segment of What Do You Know? on BBC Radio in 1953, and has been a standalone programme on Radio 4 since 1967. It has only had three regular presenters: Franklin Engelmann from 1953-72, Robert Robinson from 1973-2008, and Russell Davies since 2009.

The Major League Baseball Game of the Week (ran on various networks from 1953-93; has aired on FOX since 1996)

Godzilla (1954-present, the longest-running film franchise in history)

The absurdist plays La cantatrice chauve (The Bald Soprano) and La lecon (The Lesson) by Eugene Ionesco have been on a permanent double bill at the Théâtre de la Huchette in Paris since February 1957. The Bald Soprano also earned the Guinness World Record for longest play ever (though it has since been outdone), with one theater troupe in New Jersey performing it on a continuous loop for more than 23 hours.note The final scene of the play is identical to the first, but with Mr. and Mrs. Martin replacing Mr. and Mrs. Smith; the curtain usually falls during the second iteration of the first monologue.

The Sky at Night (UK astronomy TV show): has aired once a lunar cycle since April 1957; presented by Patrick Moore from the first episode until his death in December 2012, during which he missed a total of one episode due to food poisoning, making him the world record holder for longest tenure presenting a television programme.

Telediario is a Spanish daily news program which started running in September 1957. Nowadays, its title has become synonymous with "TV news" in Spain.

Today (AKA The Today Programme), a British news daily on BBC Radio running since October 1957. There is a (probably apocryphal) story that if a British nuclear submarine commander failed to receive the Today programme three days in a row, they were to assume Britain had been nuked and open their sealed orders.

Blue Peter (4,000+ episodes since October 1958, the longest-running children's show ever)

Dutch sports program Studio Sport has aired since April 1959.

Also in April 1959, Ecuador-born American broadcaster Jaime Jarrín joined the Los Angeles Dodgers' Spanish-language radio announcing team. He remains with the Dodgers to this day, and is now in his 61st season with the team, which would be the longest tenure for any broadcaster in any sport if it weren't for his English-language counterpart Vin Scully.

At least 70 years

Guiding Light: 72 years, 7 months, 26 days (57 of those on television), from January 25, 1937 to September 19, 2009. It was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest continuously-running program on any medium, in any genre, until the CBS World News Roundup broke its record in November of 2010. It would take a listener over 18 months, 24 hours a day, to listen to it from beginning to end (although the large number of Missing Episodes from the first 40 years would make such an archive binge impossible). It may be the largest single work of fiction in human history.

CBS World News Roundup made its first broadcast on March 13, 1938 as a special report on the Anschluss; still runs every day at 8:00 AM EST. It surpassed Guiding Light's record on November 8, 2010, and is now listed as the longest continuously-running program in any medium.

Superman, as shown in the picture above. First appeared in Action Comics in 1938. Many years, radio, TV and film spinoffs later... To put this into perspective, Superman debuted in an era closer to the days of legalized slavery than to the present.

Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Namor the Sub-Mariner all are over 70 years old, the Human Torch and Namor from 1939, and Captain America from 1941.

The National Research Council Time Signal, heard at 1:00 PM EST every day since November 5, 1939 on the CBC radio network.

Desert Island Discs has been airing on BBC Radio since 29 January 1942 (apart from a hiatus from January 1946 to January 1951). It still uses the original theme tune, Eric Coates' "By the Sleepy Lagoon" (with overdubbed seagull noises), and has only had four regular presenters (Roy Plomley (1942-85), Michael Parkinson (1985-88), Sue Lawley (1988-2006), Kirsty Young (since 2006)).

Arbeidsvitaminen (Work vitamins), a music programme on AVRO in the Netherlands, is the longest running daily radio show in the world, having started in February 1946.

Gardeners' Question Time has broadcast since April 1947 on BBC Radio, keeping pretty much the same format (a chaired panel of horticultural experts answers questions posed by the audience or posted in by listeners) ever since, nowadays augmented by cutaways to additional recorded features.

Meet the Press - weekly on NBC television since November 6, 1947; debuted on Mutual radio in 1945 as American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press. Considered the longest-running televised program in American history.

Tex Willer started publication in Italy in 1948, making it the longest running comic originating from there as well as the most popular.

Literally Older Than Television

After a ban on private, commercial radio stations implemented during World War One was lifted by the US government, such stations began to broadcast in 1919-1921. Thus, some are approaching their centennial on the air, such as KCBS-AM (initially KQW) in San Francisco, which has broadcast continually since 1921.

The Katzenjammer Kids is a comic strip that debuted December 1897, and has been published ever since, with new strips still appearing regularly today. This makes it most likely the longest-running piece of serial fiction in any medium or format.

Bécassine was in continuous publication from 1905-62. The character is still used in advertising.

Gasoline Alley debuted on November 25th, 1918. The original protagonist, Walt Wallet, is still alive, and is now 115 years old due to Frank King's insistence that the characters be allowed to age, even though his wife Phyllis died of old age in 2004 and his adopted son Skeezix now has ambiguous age, despite clearly being elderly. Walt is so old, in fact, that they had a story arc involving him being investigated for social security fraud, since the government just couldn't believe he could be that old.

Felix the Cat is the longest-lasting animated cartoon character in history, making his debut in 1919 (and if we count an even earlier prototype short, it may even be 1917) having appeared in over 150 theatrical cartoons, decades worth of comics, hundreds of TV cartoons, two movies, and the two TV revivals The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat and Baby Felix, and he is still appearing in merchandise to this day. In fact, one of the very first TV broadcasts featured Felix way back in 1928. Meow!

Popeye was first introduced in 1929, in the comic strip Thimble Theater, which was later renamed after him. Olive Oyl is older still; she appeared in the strip ten years earlier in 1919.

Lørdagsbarnetimen (The Saturday Children's Hour) was a weekly radio series produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) which aired every Saturday from December 1924 to September 2010 (apart from a forced hiatus during World War II).

The Grand Ole Opry: Airing weekly on Nashville radio station WSM-AM since 1925, with an edited version of the program being carried on national radio and television outlets since the 1940s.

The Shipping Forecast has been broadcast on one BBC Radio station or another since October 1925 (except for an enforced absence caused by World War II). It's called BBC Four its home since 1978. It celebrated its 150th anniversary in August 2017.

Radioavisen: Daily news broadcast on Danmarks Radio (DR) starting August 1, 1926. At first with two daily programs, gradually with more. Now there is a Radioavis every hour. Aired nationwide since 1927. Danmarks Radio is also responsible for Julehilsen til Grønland (Christmas greetings to Greenland), first aired in 1932 as a means for people in Denmark to send greetings to friends and family in Greenland and vice versa.

Mickey Mouse is one of the world's most beloved cartoon characters. Making his debut in 1928, he has appeared in over 130 theatrical cartoons, 8 movies, hundreds of comics, 10 TV shows, and many video games.

The Daily Service is a 15-minute religious programme which has aired daily on BBC Radio since 1928, making it the longest-running daily radio broadcast in British history.

Hamburger Hafenkonzert (Hamburg harbor concert): Broadcast weekly on NDR in Germany since June 1929  even through WWII.

Music and the Spoken Word: Weekly broadcast of music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (and a short sermon), which started in 1929.

Proto-SuperheroThe Shadow debuted in 1930 as a radio Horror Host for suspense stories, but quickly migrated to pulp novels and comic strips until 1949. Following two short-lived attempts at a Shadow television series in the '50s, the character was revived in print in 1963, and several new comic book tales were released in the decades to follow as '30s-retro miniseries, or as one-shot original accompaniments to collected reprints. Most recently, the character has appeared on film in the 1994 Alec Baldwinfeature and from 2011-present in comic miniseries from Dynamite Entertainment.

Pause Signal Danmarks Radio (DR). This little tune first aired on August 28, 1931 and has since been used to fill up short spaces between programs. The tune is a melody from the 1300s, the oldest known Danish folk melody. Irregular scheduling, yet frequently heard for decades. Nowadays used as regular broadcast only on one channel (P5), the tune has become waiting music on DR's telephone system, and since early 2009 the signal that calls the audience to the second half of concerts in the broadcaster's new concert hall.

Hockey Night in Canada began airing on radio in November 1931 and moved to television in November 1952 (the first year of regular television broadcasts in Canada), and is the world's longest-running sports show.

The Metropolitan Opera airs a radio broadcast season each year. Although going since Christmas of 1931 (and broadcast in January 1910 over experimental radio broadcasts), unlike The Guiding Light it only airs episodes during a season and is not continuous.

The first "Lucha Libre" promotion in Mexico, EMLL, got started in 1933. While it later changed its name to CMLL, this was representative of its horizons expanding from "Mexico" to "Mundial", ownership and programming remained continuous and it is the longest continuously running pro wrestling promotion in history.

The Brazilian obligatory 7p.m. radio news show A Voz do Brazil has been running since 1935.

Mumfie the elephant, who made his debut in a children's novel in 1936, has spawned numerous books (including various reprints of the original Katherine Tozer stories), 2 TV series (soon to be three with the upcoming reboot of Magic Adventures of Mumfie, a radio play, a direct-to-video movie and numerous pieces of merchandise (most of them being stuffed animals of the main character).

Statler: It's impressive that this show lasted 50 years. Waldorf: It's impressive this show lasted more than one! Both: Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!

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